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It can be no coincidence that the Maple Leafs started winning after Brian Burke was let go and the Raptors began their shocking ascent after Brian Colangelo was pushed out the door.

The operations of the Leafs and Raptors have never been quieter — devoid of bluster and fury — while the success of the teams has rarely been greater.

The Leafs are third in the Eastern Conference of the NHL. The Raptors are third in the Eastern Conference of the NBA. That has never happened before.

And yet at the same time, the fingerprints of Brian and Bryan all over the sudden rise of the Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment’s most prized properties.

Burke acquired Phil Kessel, James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Joffrey Lupul and Dion Phaneuf, to name five, while in charge of the Leafs. He hired Randy Carlyle to coach.

Colangelo drafted DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross. He traded for Kyle Lowry in a deal previously ripped by the current people in charge of MLSE. He hired Dwane Casey to coach.

Without those bases, neither team is anywhere today: But I wonder, considering their personal ways, their styles, if either Burke or Colangelo could have succeeded here. But they left enough behind for others to do so.

Masai Ujiri traded Rudy Gay and Andrea Bargnani away. Dave Nonis acquired Jonathan Bernier. The compliment has worked, the noise has been turned down. Toronto has rarely had a sporting season like this one.

THIS AND THAT

This must kill Richard Peddie, author, expert, executive, advocate, former major domo of MLSE, all this good happening with Toronto teams, and even the Toronto FC signings, all of it after he’s gone ... Two mystery injuries — one to Bernier, one to Dave Bolland, which is healing ever so slowly — hold the keys to post-season success for the Leafs. The Leafs need Bernier in goal and Bolland back to be a playoff force ... It looks like one of Kessel, Ryan Getzlaf, or Tyler Seguin will end up finishing second in NHL scoring. But it also looks like none of them will score more than 90 points, which would mean the second-place scorer would have the lowest total since the dead puck era, when Ilya Kovalchuk finished second to Martin St. Louis in scoring in 2003-04. Kovalchuk had 87 points that season. Before that, Phil Esposito’s 84 points in 1968, finishing behind Stan Mikita in scoring, was, going backwards, the lowest second place total. And that was scored in a 74-game season ... Strange when you think about it, but some of the best goaltenders this hockey season — Tuukka Rask, Ben Bishop, Bernier, Sergei Bobrovsky, Steve Mason — were acquired in trades for next to nothing ... It was tough for a heart-and-soul guy like Dustin Brown to get short-shifted at the Olympics and must be even tougher to return to your team, the Los Angeles Kings, and get marginalized there as well.

HEAR AND THERE

Phil Jackson is smart. We know that. We’re about to find out is how smart. He doesn’t have a first round pick, salary cap space, or anything other than the ballhog, Carmelo Anthony, who happens to be a free agent. So how do you fix the Knicks? This will be fascinating ... Alex Anthopoulos better hope that Ubaldo Jiminez and Johan Santana don’t bring much to the Orioles pitching staff. How bad with the Blue Jays’ GM look if Baltimore leaves the Jays in their dust? ... Don’t understand the Rogers people. Didn’t they announce that all Blue Jays Grapefruit League games would be televised? Can you find them? I can’t. Especially on snowy weekends, where I might enjoy some sunshine from afar ... Quick memory test: How bad were the Leafs from 1981 to 1989? In that time, they had 71-56-68-61-48-57-70-51 and 62-point seasons. Those years were BSTR: Before sports talk radio ... Can’t say I’ve ever said this before, but I was looking forward to Toronto FC’s season-opener in Seattle on Saturday. And then the game started ... Has anybody noticed that the home country Russians are absolutely dominating the Paralympics? Must be the food ... Sometimes good things happen to good people: Connor Brown, the Leafs draft pick who looks too small to be a hockey player, has won the OHL scoring title. It’s a long way from his first year with the Erie Otters, where he ended the season minus-72.

SCENE AND HEARD

There are 15 finalists for the Wooden Award, the American basketball equivalent of the Heisman Trophy — and here’s the amazing thing: Three of the players, Andrew Wiggins, Tyler Ennis, and Nik Stauskas, are all from the GTA. What’s more amazing, from the other 12 nominees, no two are from the same city .... The next step for DeRozan is improving his shooting percentage. DeRozan is third in the Eastern Conference in scoring and wants the ball late in games. But he has the lowest shooting percentage of any of the top ten scorers in the NBA. It’s a subtle upgrade he must make, the next step for the emerging star ... In honour of St. Patrick’s Day, we present our all-time list of sporting Patrick’s: 1. Patrick Roy; 2. Patrick Ewing; 3. Patrick Kane; 4. Patrick Chan; 5. Patrik Elias; 6. Pat Burns; 7. Dan Patrick; 8. Danica Patrick; 9. Craig Patrick; 10. Pat Quinn. Honourable mentions: Patrick Marleau, Patrick McEnroe and Patrick Sharp ... Loved D-lineman Arthur Jones’ reaction to signing a five-year $30-million contract, leaving the Baltimore Ravens for the Indianapolis Colts: “I used to be the brokest Jones,” he said of his brothers Jon (Bones) Jones, the UFC champion and first-round pick Chandler Jones of the New England Patriots. “Now I’m the richest.” His salary last season: $584,000 .... Seen hanging out at Manny Pacquiao’s boxing training camp this week: Bob Dylan. Can a song be next? ... No new address yet for quarterback Michael Vick, but the betting is he’ll end up with either the Oakland Raiders or the New York Jets ... I can’t see anyone but the Boston Bruins winning the East and I’m favouring the San Jose Sharks to win the West, which means you can pretty much rule out a Bruin-Sharks final.

AND ANOTHER THING

Censorship is alive and not so well in the Canadian Football League, where players, coaches, executives have been warned against talking about the current labour dispute between players and owners. A whopping fine awaits anyone brave enough or stupid enough to go public with their thoughts ... The truth that nobody’s talking about: The CFL has never had more money. They just don’t want anyone else, like players, getting it ... The best way to determine just how desperate the Jays are for pitching: When they start talking about Ricky Romero or Dustin McGowan as possibilities for their starting rotation ... Yes, Drew Hutchison is having an amazing spring. And yes, he has started all of 11 big league games in his career. Expecting too much from him is kind of wishful thinking ... I know it’s contentious but I’m a huge George Stroumboulopoulos fan and figure he’ll be terrific as the new host of Hockey Night In Canada. I just wish I didn’t have to type his name anymore ... Happy birthday to James Reimer (26), Jiri Tlusty (26), Ozzie Newsome (58), Duane Sutter (54), Rodney Peete (48), Blake Griffin (25), Brian Wilson (32) and The Iron Sheik (who is either 71 or 74) ... And hey, whatever became of Kyle Drabek?

BERUBE A BETTER COACH THAN GILBERT EVER WAS

It was opening night in Calgary in 2002 and Craig Berube was excited. It was also the night he was supposed to play his 1,000th NHL game.

Family had flown in for the event: The Flames were good enough to provide hotels and a luxury box for those in the Berube party. Everything was set to go — to have him honoured at centre ice — except for one thing.

Coach Greg Gilbert made Berube a healthy scratch that night. In doing so, he embarrassed the player, his family, the organization. Gilbert didn’t care about things like that: He was thought to be emotionally detached from his players. He was known to have little empathy as a coach. All he wanted to do was win.

Why does this matter now? It matters because Berube is a coach of the year candidate in the NHL and has done a wonderful job connecting with his players in Philadelphia. And it matters because Gilbert, the coach of the Saginaw Spirit, has been in the news because of the death of Terry Trafford, a player he has mostly avoided talking about.

SANTANA’S DEAL MAKES BASEBALL SENSE

I’m not advocating in any way for the possible dishonesty of Ervin Santana and his agent Jay Alou. But in Santana’s case, his decision to sign with the Atlanta Braves rather than the Blue Jays, who believed they had a deal, makes pitching sense and baseball sense from his perspective.

Especially if he had a good look at the numbers.

In pitching against the New York Yankees the past four seasons, Santana had earned run averages of 9.53, 8.18, 5.54 and 6.94. That alone might keep a guy out of the American League East. It was a little better against the Boston Red Sox, but not much better: 6.75 in 2013. In 2010, he had a 10.13 era against Tampa Bay and a 22.09 number against the Orioles.

And the surprise in the numbers: His Rogers Centre statistics in four of the past five seasons were encouraging. The problem with that logic, though. In those games, he was pitching against the Blue Jays, not for them.

KESSEL A PERFECT THIRD CHOICE

There is little doubt Phil Kessel is a Hart Trophy candidate this season.

The question is, how real of a candidate is he?

Kessel may be the perfect third or fourth choice on a voter’s Hart Trophy ballot, which is an impressive place to finish but wins you nothing but respect.

You pretty much have to vote Sidney Crosby first. He’s carrying the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have had all kinds of issues all season long. And he’s way ahead in the scoring race.

My second pick goes to Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks, who for most of the season has been the best player on the best team. You watch him and he controls the play like few others in the NHL.

Then, ahead of Jamie Benn in Dallas, ahead of Jonathan Toews in Chicago, ahead of Jonathan Bernier, his teammate, and right alongside Claude Giroux in Philadelphia, is Kessel.

By the way, no Leaf has won the Hart Trophy in my lifetime. The last Leaf to do so, Ted Kennedy, won the award 59 years ago in the 1954-55 season. The notion of Kessel even being in the discussion is further evidence of just how much he has advanced as a player this NHL season.